12 May 2016

UK advertising is blighted by fraudsters generating false clicks that siphon-off hundreds of millions of pounds each year from the industry. However, law authorities are practically powerless to pursue such criminals unless the industry agrees to fund more effectively policing of the sector, according to leading voices in the industry.

Like any bus across the world, London’s Double Deckers are already being used as mobile billboards around the city—but the interiors now deliver ads to smartphones too. As of March of this year, the buses have capitalized on what marketers call ‘dwell time,’ the arbitrary number of minutes travelers do nothing in between destinations, to send ads to passenger’s mobile devices.

28 April 2016

Whether you love to grocery shop or not, there are times when having your purchases brought to your home sure would be convenient… unless you have to schedule your life around the delivery. A new grocery service in Sweden is testing out not only delivering food but packing everything away in the owner’s refrigerator.

How long does it take to change someone's mind about your brand in a video ad? Should you rush to tell your story to avoid getting tuned out, or should you embrace a longer format to build a more captivating story? Google partnered with Mondelez International to find out.

The burgeoning virtual reality industry is all about creating simulated realities, but for VR startups focused on the HTC Vive, things just got a lot more real. HTC has announced the launch of Vive X, a $100 million fund designed to foster the growth of VR startups around the world.

22 April 2016

Burberry has found a unique way to promote its first-ever Snapchat Discover channel.

The high-end British fashion brand is putting Snapchat QR codes on the tags of selected items in its retail stores. When scanned, the codes allow customers to access its content on the visual media app.

Broadcast advertisers will now find familiar terminology when making video ad buys on Facebook.

That's because Facebook wants to make ad buying on its platform more TV-like for broadcast advertisers. The company said Wednesday that target rating point video buys on Facebook or Instagram can now leverage day-parting and Nielsen DMA targeting, two features that were previously unavailable. DMA targeting allows marketers to home in on a specific local television market area while day-parting delivers advertisements during specific parts of the day.

15 April 2016

GoPro on Thursday very quietly took the wraps off its new developer program, by which it hopes to get its action cameras hooked into as many third-party devices, vehicles and services as possible. The program was announced at a private event in San Francisco, where it showed off the fruits of various partnerships.

Jeep – which recently implemented the ‘PageSkin Edge’ ad format, designed for overcoming ad blockers on smartphones – says ad blocking is a “positive development” that is forcing it to “improve the creative advertising experience on mobile”.

07 April 2016

If music be the soda of friendship, Coke is on the right lines with the new stage of its 'Share a Coke...' campaign, which sees the personal names featured on cans and bottles make way for song lyrics.

From today (6 April), brands will be able to pay to increase the reach of their pins or target a specific audience. Known as ‘promoted pins’, the ad units look like standard pins and this is the key to their success, says Pinterest’s UK country manager Adele Cooper.

“I think it’s good news,” Nissan-Renault chief Carlos Ghosn said yesterday at Nissan’s factory in Iwaki, Japan, when Automotive News reporter Hans Greimel asked him to comment on the amazing number of pre-orders Tesla received for its upcoming lower-cost electric car, the Model 3. “The fact that so many people are willing to make a down payment to get this car, which I understand will be available by the end of 2017, is a very good sign,” Ghosn continued with a straight face.

01 April 2016

Not all TV audiences are created equal: we’ve long believed that viewers respond differently to commercials depending on how they feel about what they’re watching. And when it comes to getting a pulse on people’s emotional reactions during live TV, now we know that Twitter can drive even stronger results for brands.

GLOBAL: China is set to take the lion's share of global new advertising dollars for the first time, despite its economic slowdown, while mobile will continue to drive growth around the world, according to a new forecast.

Zenith Optimedia's latest quarterly Advertising Expenditure Forecasts pointed to several milestones which will soon be passed. It indicated that there would be some US$75bn of new ad expenditure between 2015 and 2018 and that China would take the greatest share of this spending, at 25%.

That puts it ahead of the US, which is slated to take 24% of new spending, for the first time.

The economic prospects for Latin America in 2016 are grim. With political instability in some of the region’s largest economies, as well as a general slump in prices in oil and other commodities, businesses and consumers are facing a depression and, in the case of Venezuela, economic collapse. The crash of the Chinese stock market has severely hurt the economy, as well — China is the No. 1 commercial partner for several countries in the region.

In the age where subscription-based streaming is king, is paying $50 for a single movie that streams at the same time as the theatrical release worth it? With Napster’s Sean Parker and ex-Chief Content Officer at SFX Entertainment Prem Akkaraju founding a $50 per movie rental service Screening Room, there are a lot of questions to be answered about the future of living room entertainment.

10 March 2016

Everything we have come to associate with London Fashion Week, from the “frow” to the exclusive behind-closed-doors events has been pushed aside in the digital revolution. Designers now focus on live streaming shows and allowing clothes to be bought straight off the catwalk.

Researchers at the University of California, Riverside have developed a new, more computationally efficient way to process data from the Global Positioning System (GPS), to enhance location accuracy from the meter-level down to a few centimeters.

Hilton is testing an artificial intelligence-powered concierge robot for its chain of hotels in the US through a partnership with IBM's Watson program. The automaton, called "Connie" after company founder Conrad Hilton, can already be found in the Hilton McLean hotel in Virginia. Guests can ask it questions about nearby restaurants, tourist attractions, and hotel information, but it can't check them in quite yet

04 March 2016

In a move surely to reinforce the message that “VR has arrived”, McDonalds in Sweden are bundling Google Cardboard-esque VR googles with their Happy Meals, assembled from the packaging the food came in.

The advertising industry's presence at the Mobile World Congress last week is still relatively small compared to the Consumer Electronics Show, which is often referred to as Second Cannes. Yet agencies like McCann have been going for five years now, and executives like Martin Sorrell, Laura Desmond and Nestle's Pete Blackshaw all spoke on panels. Moreover, marketing's presence is growing at the MWC, which drew an estimated 100,000 people to Barcelona.

26 February 2016

Google announced today that it has begun to support physical beacons in its Chrome browser for Android.

The feature, which has been tested in the iOS app since last summer, is heading to Chrome 49 for Android soon. It enables users to opt in to interact with and receive content from nearby Bluetooth-enabled beacons in public places like shops, sports stadiums, schools, etc.

New figures from Yahoo and Enders Analysis predict spend on native advertising will grow 156% over the next five years to account for 52% of Europe's digital display advertising.

Expected to reach €13.2 billion (£10.3 billion) by 2020, the report forecasts the majority of native spending to be on mobile (€8.8 billion/£6.87 billion) - almost six times the €1.5 billion (£1.17 billion) spent in 2015.

18 February 2016

Fitbit is elevating its fashion game, and counting every step. The fitness tracking brand debuted its upcoming collection on Sunday with the men's and women's ready-to-wear label, PUBLIC SCHOOL, during its fall 2016 show at New York Fashion Week.

Following the tech company's successful ongoing collaboration with Tory Burch, its executives are excited to expand their reach on style.

Desperate to shake off the stench of Dieselgate, Volkswagen is working on all-new, standalone electric car to take on the Tesla Model 3 and Chevrolet Bolt. Using new 48-volt onboard power supply technology that will deliver a real-world range of at least 186 miles, the unnamed vehicle is understood to be part of an innovative plan by newly installed Volkswagen CEO, Dr. Herbert Diess, to improve the brand's image.

04 February 2016

In a further sign of the falling barriers to hardware innovation, the price of 3D Printing Machines are expected to fall 6.4% in 2016. That's according to a report just released by market research firm IBISWorld.

Instagram today announced that it began running its first 60- second video ads, starting with T-Mobile and Warner Brothers. Until now, the maximum length for video ads was 30 seconds, already longer than the 15-second videos users are allowed to post.

Instagram tells me that “We recognize that advertisers have a variety of creative resources and want to bring more choice to help them reach their business goals.”

28 January 2016

We saw a massive increase in brands using video and short-form content, the continued rise of personalisation at scale, and the explosion of emojis in both campaigns and everyday brand communication. These shifts reflect the wider trends we’re seeing on Twitter.

Video ad tech company Teads released a study Tuesday that aims to provide insight as to what motivates people to use ad blockers.

Research Now conducted the study and surveyed 9,000 people. Active users of ad blockers, including mobile, and those who are aware of ad blockers but have not yet installed them, were surveyed for the study.

22 January 2016

The broadcast and cable networks, along with streaming services like Netflix, Hulu and Amazon, have spent the past two weeks at the Television Critics Association's winter press tour, sharing their plans for midseason and beyond. (You can find all of Adweek's TCA coverage here.) In addition to trotting out the new shows they hope will connect with audiences, the networks also addressed the industry's larger issues—chiefly, how to stay relevant in a dramatically shifting landscape—and how to solve them.

Here are the five biggest takeaways from the TCA winter press tour, and the most significant ways the industry will change this year:

1. Reducing ad loads to entice and keep viewers. "TV is the best advertising delivery mechanism ever invented. It's unparalleled for building brands and moving consumers, but we have overstuffed the bird" and diluted the effectiveness of ads, said Kevin Reilly, president of TNT and TBS, and chief creative officer of Turner Entertainment.

That's why as part of his dramatic overhaul of TNT and TBS, Reilly is going to reduce the ad load on TNT's three new dramas this year by more than half, which will add eight to 10 minutes of program time per hour. Fewer, more effective ads are essential to "create a better viewing experience," Reilly said. And if networks want to keep audiences from flocking to Netflix, reducing their "overstuffed" ad load is a solid first step.

2. The best way to make a series premiere stand out: Drop the ads. Sensing a trend here? Sometimes reducing ads isn't enough. Some networks are eliminating them altogether in order to make a splash of their series premieres. Syfy led the charge with the Magicians debut last month, and at least one other network is following suit. WGN America will premiere its next two series—Outsiders on Jan. 26 and Underground on March 9—without ads.

"In today's competitive landscape, we felt it was important for viewers to get as pure and as uninterrupted an introduction to these worlds as possible," said Matt Cherniss, president and GM for WGN America and Tribune Studios.

3. Even more TV is on the way—for at least one more year. A record 412 screptedd series aired last year, along with an additional 750 unscripted series. But the 2016 tally will climb even higher before "peak TV" is reached, said FX Networks CEO John Landgraf. "I think there's a reasonable prospect there will be fewer in '17 than there are in '16. We'll get to 450 shows, and then there will be a contraction down to 350 or something like that," he said. "There's still going to be a lot of TV for the foreseeable future."

For now, it's a game of content chicken, as networks pile on the new series to see which network will blink first. Apparently it won't benetflix it wont be Netflix. "We don't think there's too much TV. And if there is too much TV, someone else is going to have to slow down because we have big plans for 2016 and beyond," said Sarandos of Netflix, which will spend $6 billion on content in 2016.

4. It's open season on Netflix. As Netflix has almost single-handedly changed the way consumers watch TV, ushering in the binge-viewing and cord-cutting era, its competitors are no longer content to sit back as Netflix takes over the industry.

NBC pulled back the curtain on one of television's best-kept secrets—how many people actually watch a given episode on Netflix, anyway? It released Netflix ratings metrics from Symphony Advanced Media and declared the streaming service doesn't yet pose a "consistent" threat to broadcasters. (Netflix later dismissed it as 'remarkably innacurate data' but Symphony defended its methodology to Adweek, reiterating that 'we have confidence in our data')

Then, FX continued the Netflix assault later in the press tour. Landgraf blasted Netflix's 'wonky' economics, claiming the company "doesn't make any significant profit" despite its hefty original content slate. "Something has got to give eventually in that regard."

Netflix, predictably, was unfazed by the criticism, but the company clearly has a target on its back this season, as its competitors look to prevent it from grabbing even more subscribers and buzz.

5. Making a Murderer could be the season's most influential new show. Hollywood always wants to clone the hot TV series of the moment (think Friends, Lost, Desperate Housewives, Modern Family and Empire), and the next show that the industry wants a piece of is Netflix's red-hot documentary series Making a Murderer. It came up multiple times throughout the press tour (everyone from Secrets and Lies star Juliette Lewis to Love executive producer Judd Apatow raved about it). Especially after the Serial podcast's first season caused a similar fervor, networks are eager to jump on the true-crime bandwagon.

Investigation discovery is first in line. The network is fast-tracking a Steven Avery special, which will air later this month. And Netflix might also release a follow up: Making a Murderer's co-directors Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demhave said they have spoken to Steven Avery "several" times in the past month. "We did record those calls, with an eye toward including them in any episodes, should there be any future episodes," said Ricciardi.

Plus, given Netflix's success in picking a strateic holiday release date for the show—which allowed audiences to binge-watch and obsess over it during the Christmas and New Year break when there was no other new TV content competing for attention—look for more companies to try their luck with that slot this December.

London Virtual Reality may be grabbing all the publicity but augmented reality (AR) is where marketers can make the most gains, an industry figure has said.

Writing in the current issue of Admap, Liz Faber, a digital strategist at SapientNitro, argued that VR was a total immersion technology that lends itself to deeper gaming and entertainment experiences.

14 January 2016

LAS VEGAS — YouTube sees a future where more folks will be watching video than television. In fact, it will be here in just a few years. In a speech at the Consumer Electronics Show, YouTube chief business officer Robert Kyncl predicted that viewing patterns will shift dramatically.

“Digital video will overtake television to become the single largest way people spend their free time before the end of this decade,” he said, citing mobile viewing, virtual reality and music programming as the drivers of the shift.

Emotient, a company that uses artificial intelligence to analyse facial expression and detect emotion, has been bought by Apple.

Apple confirmed the news to the Wall Street Journal stating that it "buys smaller technology companies from time to time". Characteristically, no further information was given -- "we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans," a spokesperson said.

More than just making electric vehicles, luxury automaker wants drivers to stay safe and healthy too. With the "Audi Fit Driver" system, the idea is to monitor your vitals via a fitness tracker or smartwatch, comparing aspects like current heart rate and skin temperature against previously gathered data to get a picture of your state while behind the wheel. From there, the system will analyze data gleaned from various vehicle sensors to determine your driving style, weather-and-traffic conditions and breathing rate, according to a statement from the company.

A Chinese company has unveiled the world's first commercially available passenger drone at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.

The Ehang 184, created by Guangzhou-based company Ehang, essentially looks like a larger version of a quadcopter drone - except with a small cockpit in the middle capable of carrying a single passenger.

Pilotless planes have been developed and tested before, but Ehang says their vehicle is the world's first commercially available self-flying aircraft.

Ehang has only revealed short videos of the drone flying in tests, but they claim it's capable of flying for 23 minutes after only two hours charging time, when carrying a maximum weight of 100kg - around the weight of a single passenger and a small backpack or piece of luggage.

Ehang said the 184 had undergone more than 100 test flights at low altitudes near Guangzhou, even carrying a passenger a number of times.

It's designed to fly fairly low, at altitudes of between 300 to 500 metres, but its creators claim it can reach 3,500 metres at the most. It's also got a fairly nippy top speed of 63mph.

The drone is controlled through a simple tablet-based app

Reassuringly, they promised that their device is fairly safe - even if one of the 184's four rotors fail, the other three will be able to take the aircraft down into a rough emergency landing.

The most interesting (and scary) part about the drone is that it's autonomous - passengers choose their destination and route on a tablet, and can only choose to either 'take off' or land'.

They can't issue any other directions to actually pilot the drone themselves, which means, according to the creators, passengers won't need a license to fly one.

But considering that the humble hover board if illegal to use on the UK's streets, it's unlikely that prospective Ehang 184 owners would ever be able to fly in their drones without some kind of permit.

Although drone pilots in the UK are currently fairly free to fly their devices as long as they stay away from built-up areas or restricted airspace, there's plans to introduce further regulation and controls like a US-style registration system in the works - so devices like the Ehang 184 would certainly face tight restrictions if they ever came to market.

Ehang co-founder Shang Hsaio says the 184 is likely to cost between £140,000 to £200,000 after its proposed launch later this year, but having raised tens of millions of pounds in investment, Ehang could yet bring out a more affordable version.